Illinois State’s Summer Speech Institute

Illinois State University’s Forensics Union hosts the Summer Speech Institute (SSI) camp each year. This camp brings high school students to Bloomington – Normal, Ill., to learn about the art of speech and debate from national champions in the activity. After rebranding the “Forensics Union,” the Summer Speech Institute needed an update to continue the brand.

While the development of the Summer Speech Institute brand is similar to the Forensics Union brand, the creative approach focuses on the energy and power that comes from the activity. Even just looking at the sleek design of the action speech bubble, there’s electricity that seemingly pulses from the image to the viewer. To continue that feeling of energy, I created a text that includes some form of power. The posters encapsulate this strategy with phrases like, “Take the charge and speak boldly” and “A spark to speak.” Since high school students mainly view the Summer Speech Institute, this brand revision ensures they will get energized with Illinois State.